Title in the Language of the Records

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Collection Time Period

This collection of civil registration for Haiti includes the years 1794 to 1843.

Record Description

This is a collection of birth, marriage, and death records from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prior to 1804 Haiti was first claimed by Spain and then granted to France in 1697. During French governance, Haiti was known as Saint-Domingue. Some of the records were created using the Republican Calendar (1792-1806). Please see the website link listed in the Related Website section of this article for information on the Republican Calendar. The records were handwritten in French.

Record Content

The key genealogical facts found in most birth records are:

Date and place of the event

Name of the principal

Gender of principal and date of birth

Legitimacy

Parents' names, residence, and/or place of origin

Names of witnesses

The key genealogical facts found in most marriage records are:

Date and place of the event

Names of the bride and groom

Their civil statuses (widowed, single, divorced) at the time of the event

Place of origin and residence of the bride and groom

Names of parents

Name of witnesses

The key genealogical facts found in most death records are:

Place and date of the event

Place and date of death

Name of the principal (deceased)

Civil status of principal at time of death

Civil status and name of spouse, if married at time of death

Parents’ names

Sometimes, place of burial

How to Use the Records

Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index of birth, marriage, or death. Use the locator information in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

When you have located your ancestor’s birth, marriage, or death record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

For example:

Use the date along with the place to find the family in census records.

Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.

The father’s occupation can lead you to employment records, military records, or other types of records.

The parents' birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.

It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same town or nearby location.

Keep in mind:

The information in civil records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.

Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.

There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

Record History

Local registry offices create the civil events, such as birth, marriage, and death, of citizens in their jurisdiction. The registrar sends the records to the Ministry of Justice annually, which verifies the records and affixes a seal before transferring them to the National Archives. A copy of the record is also kept at the local registry office or at the Civil Court Clerk's Office (Bureau du greffe du Tribunal civil). Unfortunately, a large number of births are not registered in Haiti.

Why the Record Was Created

The civil registration was created to record the events of birth, marriage, death, and other civil events, which would determine and prove the civil status and existence of citizens.

Record Reliability

Civil registration records are a very reliable source for doing genealogical research after 1804, the year when civil registration was implemented in Haiti.

Related Wiki Articles

Contributions to This Article

We welcome user additions to FamilySearch Historical Records wiki articles. We are looking for additional information that will help readers understand the topic and better use the available records. We also need translations for collection titles and images in articles about records written in languages other than English. For specific needs, please visit WikiProject FamilySearch Records.

Please follow these guidelines as you make changes. Thank you for any contributions you may provide.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

Citation for This Collection

The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org Historicla Records. It may include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the originarl records.

Haiti. Various local registry offices. Civil registration, 1794-1843. National Archives of the Republic of Haiti.

Digital copies of originals are also housed in different local registry offices throughout Haiti.